It’ll be up close and personal at the expanded tiger habitat coming to the Detroit Zoo

It’s no secret Detroit loves the Tigers, but it isn’t just baseball. We love the other ferocious felines that live at the at the Detroit Zoo as well. Soon we’ll be able to see the zoo’s tigers up close and personal thanks to a $1 million gift from the Richard C. Devereaux Foundation that will expand and renovate their habitat.

These changes will help to better mimic the natural surroundings of tigers. After all is said and done, there will be more high vantage points, open spaces, trees, a cave, waterfall and pool, and, of course, much more room to run around.

Here are some renderings that show what it will look like.

Aerial view of Devereaux Tiger Forest

Another look at the Devereaux Tiger Forest

Outside the Devereaux Tiger Forest

“The Detroit Zoo is one of my favorite places on earth, and I think tigers are the most magnificent of all creatures,” says Leslie Devereaux. “It brings me great pride to be able to support both an organization and a species that I hold so dear to my heart.”

Construction is scheduled to begin in 2017 and take more than a year. Once it’s completed the size of the habitat will triple and will include more viewing space and an 85-foot-long acrylic window.

“This generous gift will help us provide the tigers with a larger and more complex space in which to live,” says Detroit Zoological Society (DZS) Executive Director and CEO Ron Kagan. “Leslie Devereaux has been a tremendous supporter of the zoo for many years, and we are incredibly appreciative of this gift.”

Devereaux, of Bloomfield Hills, is a former member of the DZS Board of Directors. She has previously contributed to the construction of the Detroit Zoo’s Arctic Ring of Life and Ruth Roby Glancy Animal Health Complex, and helped fund the Berman Academy for Humane Education.

Kisa is one resident of the habitat. Her name means kitty in Russian. - Photo by Roy Lewis

One current resident of the tiger habitat is Kisa, who was born there in 2003. Her name is Russian for kitty. She’s an Amur tiger, once known as a Siberian tiger. It’s the largest member of the cat family and the largest of the five remaining subspecies of tiger. Unfortunately, it is listed as “Endangered” by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).